As wireless communications technology becomes embedded in the lifestyles of consumers -- led by the younger generations that have always known it -- small businesses are seeking ways to catch the wave. Gaining an advantage with younger shoppers online and off can be daunting to small businesses that would rather not manage technology but instead exploit it. This podcast tells the story of how UPS extended its global package delivery tracking and Quantum View services to the wireless domain and reached out in whole new ways via Short Message Service (SMS) texting to mobile devices. One small business, Moosejaw, used UPS as its technology and logistics source to link wirelessly to its hipper, younger clients -- to stay in touch, provide a strong sense of community, and to give them access to whatever information they may want on how to get their purchases fast and easily. Some even got some lessons in dating. Listen to Dana Gardner moderate this 28-minute sponsored podcast, joined by Jeff Reid, the UPS's Director of Customer Technology Marketing, and Robert Wolfe, the Co-Founder of Moosejaw. Read a full transcript of the discussion at http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/2007/06/transcript-of-briefingsdirect-podcast_21.html. Sponsor: UPS.

WSO2 has entered the open source SOA field with a slate of veterans from Web services specifications, application server and lightweight framework development. The latest offering to the market came June 11 with the arrival of WSO2 ESB 1.0, based on Apache Synapse and targeted at both developers who want to use ESBs quickly, as well as operations architects seeking lightweight and high-performing components. To help evaluate the WSO2 approach, moderator Dana Gardner is joined by Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst at ZapThink, and Paul Fremantle, co-founder and vice president of technology at WSO2. Learn more about ESBs and the ways in which open source complements SOA in this 44-minute sponsored deep-dive discussion. Read a full transcript of the discussion at http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/2007/06/transcript-of-briefingsdirect-podcast.html. Sponsor: WSO2.

Welcome to the latest BriefingsDirect SOA Insights Edition, Vol. 15, a weekly discussion and dissection of Services Oriented Architecture (SOA)-related news and events, with a panel of IT analysts. In this episode, recorded March 23, 2007, our experts examine the burgeoning role of SOA Architect. Joined by Steve Nunn, vice president and COO of The Open Group, and John Bell, an enterprise architect at Marriott International, we examine how deep business knowledge, technical savvy, and strong interpersonal skills need to come together for SOA architects. So far, there are not enough to fill the job openings, spurring more certification and training. We also look at SCA/SDO moving to OASIS, and Microsoft's role in federated SOA. Please join noted IT industry analysts Jim Kobielus and Neil Macehiter for our discussion, hosted and moderated by Interarbor analyst Dana Gardner. Read a full transcript of the podcast at http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/2007/06/briefingsdirect-soa-insights-analysts.html.